Distance measure for linguistic decision making

In this paper, we extend the distance measure to the linguistic fuzzy sets, and develop the linguistic distance operators, such as linguistic weighted distance (LWD) operator, linguistic ordered weighted distance (LOWD) operator, and study some of their desired properties. These aggregation operators are very useful for decision-making problems because they establish a comparison between an ideal alternative and available options in order to find the optimal choice. We also develop a procedure to the linguistic decision problem with the developed linguistic distance operators. Finally, a practical example is given to illustrate the multiple attribute group decision making process. (c) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organising Committee of The International Conference of Risk and Engineering Management.